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This course reviews novels, short stories, drama and poetry by and about Asian Americans. It will discuss significant cultural and historical moments for Asian Americans in different regions of the United States. It will also discuss pre and post 1965 “waves” of Asian immigration and exclusion, and how literature explores the difficulties of dislocation and relocation.

This course focuses on the social structures affecting the lives of different groups of Asian American women in the United States and relates current experiences of this group to larger socio-historical processes. This course also examines the different social hierarchies – gender, race and class – within which these women, originally from East, South and Southeast Asia, live their lives. The course will look at different institutions, investigate Asian American women’s experiences and explore some organized movements for social change.

This course will introduce modern and contemporary art from India and the South Asian Diaspora from independence to the present, which will include painting, sculpture, installation and photography, as well as folk and popular art. Lectures on Indian religions and philosophy, and ancient and ritual forms of art will help to contextualize modern and contemporary topics.

The goal of the course is for students to appreciate Asian American history as a social process by learning about the emergence of the social movement, the development of historical inquiry about Asian Americans and the on-going struggle to learn about the past in order to better understand the present. Introducing students to Asian American History as a political social movement, an academic field, and as a cultural practice, this course teaches fundamental historical narratives of Asian Americans in U.S. history, covering the experiences of Chinese, Japanese, Korean, South Asian, Filipino, and Southeast Asian immigrants as well as those of other Pacific Islanders. Instead of learning a strict chronology of events, this course first explores the history of political and academic activism in the formation of Asian American Studies and Ethnic Studies. The majority of the course will be devoted to the diverse histories of migration, integration, and struggle within Asian American communities from the 19th century to the present. We will also learn about the culture and politics of the late 20th century through discussions of the “model minority” stereotype, Asian refugees, Asian Americans in popular culture, and their relationship to other racial and ethnic groups.

This course examines the major problems and issues of traditional Chinese and Japanese history and historiography. Special emphasis will be placed on the “Great Tradition” in ideas of both civilizations.

This course examines the development of India from the Mughal and European invasions of the Sixteenth Century to the present. India’s remarkable synthesis of East and West, traditional and new, is the focus. The course comprises a series of lectures drawn from six main sections: India Today; Traditional India; India in the Muslim Period; The Music and Art of India; India in the European Period; and National and Independent India.

TUESDAYS 6:00pm – 9:00pm Student Union Building Room 428
Enrollment is Restricted by Permission of the Instructor Only

Drawing on history, memory and cultural identity, this course begins with cultural critic Lisa Lowe’s assertion that Asian America is marked by heterogeneity, multiplicity and hybridity. Interdisciplinary and pan-ethnic in its approach, the course requires the consent of the Instructor in order to enroll in it.

This course analyses China’s political, economic, and cultural encounters with the Western Powers from the seventeenth century to 1949. Students will consider the changing structure of Chinese society in order to understand how Imperial China perceived the West. Additionally, this course addresses different strategies employed by the Western Powers to gain influence in China, ranging from missionary work and the opium trade to military invasion. In the twentieth century, Chinese people borrowed such foreign concepts as republican government, revolution, and nationalism to overthrow the Qing dynasty and to launch political, economic, and social reforms that were unprecedented in scale and human cost. This course aims to help students reflect on the perceived and real impact of Chinese and Western civilizations on each other.